What Levi’s is Doing Better Than Any Other US Apparel Brand

If retailers want to get consumers and their dollars back, they’re going to have to get in touch with their emotions.

The role emotion plays in brands’ business decisions is underleveraged, misunderstood and not measured enough, MBLM Brand Agency said in its 2017 report on Brand Intimacy.

Acknowledging that 90 percent of all decisions are made based on emotion, brands need to shift the way they are created, promoted and managed to offer a different kind of attention to the consumer.

“If focusing more on the customer seems like an obvious strategy for success, then consider brand intimacy to be a new paradigm around the science of the emotional bonds we form with the brands we use or can’t live without,” MBLM managing partner Mario Natarelli said.

The problem with apparel retailers is that none of them really seem to be getting this right. Not one apparel-focused retailer made MBLM’s list of the top 10 most intimate brands of 2017 (Apple, Disney and Amazon took the top three spots).

Levi’s took the top spot among apparel brands when it comes to intimacy, followed by Nike, Lululemon, Under Armour, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, The North Face, Ralph Lauren, Gap and Puma. Each of these brands has a following—a fan base even, and it has a lot to do with emotional engagement.